CDC says no new illnesses tied to Rich Products food

There haven’t been any new cases of E. coli infection linked to frozen food made by Rich Products Corp. in the week since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first reported on the outbreak, officials said Friday.

The number of people sickened by the rare strain of E. coli remains at the 27 reported on April 5, a spokeswoman for the CDC told The Buffalo News.

Government and company investigators continue to seek the source of the contamination, which has been linked to frozen mini pizza slices and quesadillas made under the Farm Rich brand at a Rich Products plant in Georgia.

The outbreak led to the recall of 10 million pounds of food sold at retail outlets, grocery stores and through distributors around the country.

Officials from Rich Products are closely consulting with the CDC, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said Dwight Gram, a company spokesman.

The company previously said a thorough cleaning and investigation of the plant in Waycross, Ga., did not find any trace of E. coli.